Ebony's Pearls

Itzl in the Heavenly Bamboo
Originally uploaded by nodigio

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1714473,00.html

"When looking into the future, never trust your gut. That doesn't mean it's always wrong, you should just never trust it.”

I have to disagree with this conclusion. I disagree with it because of an earlier statement made in this same article: “Those who ate at a normal pace — one chip for every 15 seconds — came to the same misguided conclusions as other students: predictions did not correspond to their actual levels of enjoyment. Yet those who ate chips more slowly, one every 45 seconds, had very different results. Their forecasts were almost completely accurate.” It seems as if they’ve defined “gut instinct” as an immediate, knee-jerk reaction, and not a feeling that builds convincingly. My “gut” processes a lot of information, and if I give it time (as in the timed experiment demonstrated above), then my gut is “almost completely accurate.” I implicitly trust my gut instincts. They’ve been through a lot and remember better than I do.

The ability to think about something does help predict how you will feel about it. And I think you can compare experiences both past and current and arrive at a fair and accurate gauge of your happiness level about it your current experience. I also think some people dwell too strongly on the what-ifs and might-have-beens to appreciate the moment.

And I agree that "Once you make a choice in life, the unchosen alternatives evaporate." We can’t go back and take a different path. All we can do is create a new path that may, maybe, lead to the result we are wanting to achieve. Speculation about the future is a Good Thing, in my opinion, but speculation about the past, worrying at the alternatives one might have taken, that’s a sure fire way to sow discontent and unhappiness. Accept what you did and move forward.